Ted Haggard's Re-Gifting: Documentary on Disgraced Pastor to Air on HBO in January
Bill Berkowitz printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 03:22:12 PM EST
'The Trials of Ted Haggard'

In the midst of the controversy over Pastor Rick Warren delivering the invocation at the inauguration of President Barack Obama, the death of Paul Weyrich, the "Godfather" of the modern conservative movement, the torching of Sarah Palin's Wasilla Bible Church, and the removal of Richard Cizik from his leadership post with the National Association of Evangelicals, comes this piece of news to brighten or, at the least, lighten up your day.

Are you ready?

According to the Associated Press, "The Trials of Ted Haggard," directed by Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is set to air Jan. 29 on HBO. AP also reported that Haggard has agreed to promote the documentary.

Since Haggard's story includes drugs and sex -- I'm not sure how much rock n roll -- think of the possibilities!

After all, it's not television, my friends. It's HBO.

 

Drugs and sex? Yes. Rock n Roll? Not so Much.

Haggard, resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and was fired as senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs in November 2006 after a former male prostitute went public with allegations that Haggard paid him for sex and used methamphetamine.

He has said that while he bought the drugs, he never used them. And while he also bought the sex, he apparently participated in that transaction. According to the AP, Haggard "confessed to undisclosed 'sexual immorality' and has said, 'I really did sin.'"

"The reason I kept my personal struggle a secret is because I feared that my friends would reject me, abandon me and kick me out, and the church would exile and excommunicate me. And that happened and more," he says.

After getting tossed from his Colorado church, Haggard and his family moved to Arizona and then Texas. AP reported that he "He re-emerged last month at a rural Illinois church, where he delivered guest sermons and said he was sexually abused as a second-grader."

The Colorado Independent's Cara DeGette reported that Pelosi "first hooked up with Haggard when she was filming a documentary, 'Friends of God,' about Christian evangelicals in 2006 -- before Haggard's trysts with gay escort Mike Jones forced him out of the church that he had founded."

DeGette pointed out that "one particularly tittilating exchange captured on film in 'Friends of God,'" had Haggard "talk[ing] about having the best sex ever."

"'You know all the surveys say that evangelicals have the best sex life of any other group,' Haggard says on camera, grinning from ear to ear."

"Haggard then asks a church guy next to him how often he has sex with his wife. The man replies, 'Every day.' Pastor Ted goes on to note that evangelicals have a lot of love. 'You don't think these babies come out of nowhere?'"

Haggard now sells insurance and, in the documentary, says he isn't successful.

"At this stage in my life, I am a loser," he says.

 In a post at sliceoflaodicea -- "news and commentary on the contemporary church" -- Ingrid Schlueter pointed out that it is expected that a tell all (or tell some) book might follow the documentary.  

"After the book comes out," Schlueter cheekily wrote, "there will be appearances on every major talk show in the country, probably including Oprah. After that, Ted can leverage his comeback fame, stop selling insurance and start hosting seminars and workshops entitled, 'Comeback-the Haggard Method.'"

Schlueter continued: "There is something inherently repellent about a fallen pastor making money off his deceitful and immoral conduct with a sordid movie. Ted dropped out of accountability and counseling sessions set up by several Christian leaders and against all counsel, has already made an appearance at a church as speaker. He wants a church again, big time. In the meantime, as he rebuilds his following, HBO will help pay the bills."

Is there a Colson-like redemption down the road?




Display:
We certainly haven't heard the last of Ted Haggard, as he is already playing one of the stock characters in the Evangelical narrative, the role of the repentant sinner. Ingrid Schlueter is absolutely right about the repellent nature of Ted Haggard's conduct, but he will market his repentance as he has everything else, and there are plenty of people to buy his narrative at face value.

by khughes1963 on Sat Dec 20, 2008 at 08:04:30 PM EST


WWW Talk To Action


Cognitive Dissonance & Dominionism Denial
There is new research on why people are averse to hearing or learning about the views of ideological opponents. Based on evaluation of five......
By Frederick Clarkson (375 comments)
Will the Air Force Do Anything To Rein In Its Dynamic Duo of Gay-Bashing, Misogynistic Bloggers?
"I always get nervous when I see female pastors/chaplains. Here is why everyone should as well: "First, women are not called to be pastors,......
By Chris Rodda (203 comments)
The Legacy of Big Oil
The media is ablaze with the upcoming publication of David Grann's book, Killers of the Flower Moon. The shocking non fiction account of the......
By wilkyjr (111 comments)
Gimme That Old Time Dominionism Denial
Over the years, I have written a great deal here and in other venues about the explicitly theocratic movement called dominionism -- which has......
By Frederick Clarkson (101 comments)
History Advisor to Members of Congress Completely Twists Jefferson's Words to Support Muslim Ban
Pseudo-historian David Barton, best known for his misquoting of our country's founders to promote the notion that America was founded as a Christian nation,......
By Chris Rodda (113 comments)
"Christian Fighter Pilot" Calls First Lesbian Air Force Academy Commandant a Liar
In a new post on his "Christian Fighter Pilot" blog titled "BGen Kristin Goodwin and the USAFA Honor Code," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan......
By Chris Rodda (144 comments)
Catholic Right Leader Unapologetic about Call for 'Death to Liberal Professors' -- UPDATED
Today, Donald Trump appointed C-FAM Executive Vice President Lisa Correnti to the US Delegation To UN Commission On Status Of Women. (C-FAM is a......
By Frederick Clarkson (126 comments)
Controlling Information
     Yesterday I listened to Russ Limbaugh.  Rush advised listeners it would be best that they not listen to CNN,MSNBC, ABC, CBS and......
By wilkyjr (118 comments)
Is Bannon Fifth-Columning the Pope?
In December 2016 I wrote about how White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who likes to flash his Catholic credentials when it comes to......
By Frank Cocozzelli (251 comments)
Ross Douthat's Hackery on the Seemingly Incongruous Alliance of Bannon & Burke
Conservative Catholic writer Ross Douthat has dissembled again. This time, in a February 15, 2017 New York Times op-ed titled The Trump Era's Catholic......
By Frank Cocozzelli (65 comments)
`So-Called Patriots' Attack The Rule Of Law
Every so often, right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan lurches out of the far-right fever swamp where he has resided for the past 50 years to......
By Rob Boston (161 comments)
Bad Faith from Focus on the Family
Here is one from the archives, Feb 12, 2011, that serves as a reminder of how deeply disingenuous people can be. Appeals to seek......
By Frederick Clarkson (177 comments)
The Legacy of George Wallace
"One need not accept any of those views to agree that they had appealed to real concerns of real people, not to mindless, unreasoning......
By wilkyjr (70 comments)
Betsy DeVos's Mudsill View of Public Education
My Talk to Action colleague Rachel Tabachnick has been doing yeoman's work in explaining Betsy DeVos's long-term strategy for decimating universal public education. If......
By Frank Cocozzelli (80 comments)
Prince and DeVos Families at Intersection of Radical Free Market Privatizers and Religious Right
This post from 2011 surfaces important information about President-Elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. -- FC Erik Prince, Brother of Betsy......
By Rachel Tabachnick (218 comments)

Respect for Others? or Political Correctness?
The term "political correctness" as used by Conservatives and Republicans has often puzzled me: what exactly do they mean by it? After reading Chip Berlin's piece here-- http://www.talk2action.org/story/2016/7/21/04356/9417 I thought about what he explained......
MTOLincoln (253 comments)
Fear
What I'm feeling now is fear.  I swear that it seems my nightmares are coming true with this new "president".  I'm also frustrated because so many people are not connecting all the dots! I've......
ArchaeoBob (107 comments)
"America - love it or LEAVE!"
I've been hearing that and similar sentiments fairly frequently in the last few days - far FAR more often than ever before.  Hearing about "consequences for burning the flag (actions) from Trump is chilling!......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)
"Faked!" Meme
Keep your eyes and ears open for a possible move to try to discredit the people openly opposing Trump and the bigots, especially people who have experienced terrorism from the "Right"  (Christian Terrorism is......
ArchaeoBob (165 comments)
More aggressive proselytizing
My wife told me today of an experience she had this last week, where she was proselytized by a McDonald's employee while in the store. ......
ArchaeoBob (163 comments)
See if you recognize names on this list
This comes from the local newspaper, which was conservative before and took a hard right turn after it was sold. Hint: Sarah Palin's name is on it!  (It's also connected to Trump.) ......
ArchaeoBob (169 comments)
Unions: A Labor Day Discussion
This is a revision of an article which I posted on my personal board and also on Dailykos. I had an interesting discussion on a discussion board concerning Unions. I tried to piece it......
Xulon (180 comments)
Extremely obnoxious protesters at WitchsFest NYC: connected to NAR?
In July of this year, some extremely loud, obnoxious Christian-identified protesters showed up at WitchsFest, an annual Pagan street fair here in NYC.  Here's an account of the protest by Pagan writer Heather Greene......
Diane Vera (130 comments)
Capitalism and the Attack on the Imago Dei
I joined this site today, having been linked here by Crooksandliars' Blog Roundup. I thought I'd put up something I put up previously on my Wordpress blog and also at the DailyKos. As will......
Xulon (331 comments)
History of attitudes towards poverty and the churches.
Jesus is said to have stated that "The Poor will always be with you" and some Christians have used that to refuse to try to help the poor, because "they will always be with......
ArchaeoBob (149 comments)
Alternate economy medical treatment
Dogemperor wrote several times about the alternate economy structure that dominionists have built.  Well, it's actually made the news.  Pretty good article, although it doesn't get into how bad people could be (have been)......
ArchaeoBob (90 comments)
Evidence violence is more common than believed
Think I've been making things up about experiencing Christian Terrorism or exaggerating, or that it was an isolated incident?  I suggest you read this article (linked below in body), which is about our great......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)

More Diaries...




All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments, posts, stories, and all other content are owned by the authors. Everything else © 2005 Talk to Action, LLC.